Box 4, Folder 5: Miscellaneous Typewritten Letters

1874.

Feb. 10. Went to top of Lookout Mountain by carriage. Purchased views, collected specimens, &c. Rocks horizontal, but in the city dip heavily towards the mountains. Mud road to the mountain--grand view--"equal to any in Switzerland". "Finer than any in the United States," "Seats the White Mountains," said a man by my side.*** Went to Cameron Hill. Saw Mission Ridge and other places of interest.

Left Chattanooga for Atlanta 4:45 P.M. Arrived 12 1/2 at night. Stopped at the Kimball House.

Feb. 11. Went to the home of Mr. E.L. Jones No. 30 Peach street, where we are to remain for a few days. Mr. Jones' house was at one time the headquarters of Gen. Pope.*** Visited sulphuretted chalybeate spring, of which we secured the analysis. Another spring at Atlanta is called the "Ponce de Leon."

Feb. 16. Rode out to the Georgia Railroad 18 miles from Atlanta in a fog to Stone Mountain, accompanied by my daughter and Miss Jones. Here is a fine large hotel apparently but little used.

Stone Mountain, GA.

On the 16th day of February, 1874, finding myself at Atlanta, the enterprising capital city of Georgia, and having heard much of the wonders of a grand swell of gray granite rock rising in one bold dome 1,200 feet above the surrounding country (2,360 above the sea level), I decided to devote a day to its exploration. So, accompanied by daughter and a friend, we left Atlanta in the early hour of 6 1/2 A.M. for a ride of eighteen miles to the station near its base known also by the name of Stone Mountain. This ride was through a pleasant country of uneven surface, the soil consisting almost entirely of red clay, which results from the decay of some highly ferruginous rock.

Arrived at the station, which is in DeKalb county within a mile of the mountain, we found that it was still hidden from

1874.

view by the dense fog that had on that morning settled down upon the whole country around.

So far as the mountain prospect is concerned we might as well have been fifty miles away. Nothing daunted, however, we left the hotel under the guidance of "York", a colored boy of much intelligence and local knowledge, in search of the hidden mountain. The way led over a considerable eminence, by way of a large "half-way house", and along the course of a dilapidated and abandoned "side track" or mule railroad.

After walking a mile, putting our faith in York, rather than in any landmarks or prospect of a mountain we could see ahead beyond a few feet (so dense was the fog), we came to the "Foot Hill" or bottom of the western prolongation of the mountain. This we ascended over a steep rugged path every where upon the smooth solid rock of the mountain, but much obstructed by fallen stones. The heavy rains of a few nights previous had nicely cleared this path, carrying away the rubbish and moving large numbers of the loose rocks another step on their way from summit to base of the mountain. These water courses must become mountain torrents on such occasions.

As we could still see no mountain ahead we amused ourselves in gathering such botanical specimens as this slope affords at this early season. The trees, shrubs, weeds, and even the lichens and mosses are mostly different from what would be found in our Wisconsin home ten degrees of latitude further north. The path gradually became steeper and more obstructed with stones as we ascended; and we all ceased not to wonder how the officers of the U.S. Coast Survey could have conveyed their instruments up this steep and rough ascent in any kind of a conveyance drawn by horses. Though made several months ago the track was still visi

1874.

-ble upon the surface of the moss-covered rocks.

About two-thirds of the way up this western slope of the mountain we find the first evidence of the work of the "mound builders: who once occupied and improved this country. It consists of a small circular mound at the left of the path built up apparently of equal parts of earth and stones. It doubtless covers the remains of one of their distinguished men; a grand chief, a great general or an unusually good citizen.

The mound apparently has never been opened; and probably so small a cover has failed to preserve the bones of the honored dead, so that a search here would, doubtless, be barren of results.

A little further up, when the slope of the now nearly naked rock becomes quite steep, we found the "stone wall", one of the chief objects of antiquarian interest on this mountain.

(Sketch).

It consists of loose, rather flattish stones piled up upon the steep naked rock as shown above. Many of these stones have tumbled off and are on their way towards the base of the mountain. The stones are of all sizes, from the smallest up to as much as a man could lift or handle. The wall is constructed with the greatest want of regularity. Nothing like mortar had been used, the stones being simply piled up much as we make stone fences. At one place for the distance of a few yards the whole wall had apparently slid down and disappeared over an impending precipice below. This wall extends several hundred feet towards the right Fig. 1., and sloping rather steeply up the face of the mountain.

(Sketch).

It terminates near some large loose rocks, covered

1874.

with bushes and stunted trees. At the left a little higher up and beyond some steep rocks or small cliffs, another wall (Fig. 2.) was seen extending as before, obliquely up the mountain. Still further up the path passes near the end of another wall sloping downwards and curved still more downwards at the further extremity. Perhaps other walls could have been found, had we had time to explore through the bushes and over the slippery rocks for them; possibly they once formed some kind of enclosure like the earth walls of Ohio and other states. They were all built like the one first noticed; and were upon very steep slopes. The earlier accounts of this mountain, I believe, mention these walls and there has been much speculation in regard to their age and the purpose for which they were built--speculation to which I do not propose to add.

They were doubtless built by the "mound builders" many ages ago for purposes which we can not in our present knowledge of their wants, habits, and necessities fully understand. Possibly they were only pathways, along which they could more easily and safely ascend the steep rocks; possibly they were intended to confine wild animals upon the mountain top, which is scarcely accessible from any other point. Spaces between the ends of these walls may have originally been closed, either by a continuation of the stone wall now destroyed, or by the fences of wood. They could hardly have been works of defense; not having the height and strength necessary to stop an enemy. It could be thrown down with but a tithe of the labor necessary for its construction. These walls are mentioned in Stephenson's Geology of Georgia p. 83, and in C.C. Jones' Antiquities of the Southern Indians pps. 207 and 380.

1874.

Above these walls the scent was very steep, over naked rocks, with only here and there a shrub or scraggly tree, which had found a sure foot-hold (or rather root-hold) in some slight crevice of the rock. At the very summit we halted to enjoy (still in the fog) a hearty lunch, rendered still more acceptable by the labor of ascent; and to speculate upon the meaning of the level circular space cut into the hard granite by the officers and men of the Coast Survey.

Exactly in the center of this circle lies a small much battered piece of copper, which one involuntarily tries to remove with his foot, but which proves to be the head of a copper bolt driven deeply into a drill hole in the rock. It was explained to us that the exact distance (air-line) of this bolt from the neighboring mountains will soon be made known; and also that the latitude and longitude of the bolt will be known with a most wonderful degree of accuracy. Directly over our heads was a "pole" supported by ample braces, themselves secured by ample piles of stone. This pole can be seen with the aid of good glasses from other similar stations, perhaps thirty miles or more away.

The fog now lifting opened to us a grand panorama of swelling hills, yellow farm enclosures, green pine forests, with here and there the smoke of a village, or the steam of a passing railroad train, creeping leisurely along. The distant horizon was everywhere bounded by what appeared to be mountains, with numerous prominent peaks, of which the two Kennesaws at the west were the most prominent. The village of Stone Mountain was spread before us as on a map.

We approached the edge of the mountain summit on various sides and contemplated the "awfulness" of an accident by which one might be precipitated below, an operation which no one would repeat. York told us of a man (intoxicated) who slid down